Anger at lack of repairs to pothole-riddled Haverhill road

A resident of a Haverhill estate whose only access road to her house has 23 potholes says repairs need to be made after her car was irreparably damaged.

While Jenny Shackleton cannot conclusively prove the state of Deben Road was responsible for the damage caused to her Mazda TS, she feels sure it was a major factor.

She said: "I had to write off my car in May as it failed the MOT on all four suspension arms needing to be replaced. These cost a lot of money (£1,200 for all four) so I decided to spend what savings I had on a new car.

"I cannot help thinking that these potholes contributed towards this damage."

Jenny and her husband Sacha counted the holes in the road and took photos and measurements and found there were 23 holes, all between 1.5cm and 2.5cam deep, with two of them over 2mt long.

The potholes were reported to Suffolk County Council's Highways team on June 15 and July 9 and the authority said it has been 'added to inspection programme'.

Jenny, who has lived in her Kirtling Place home for 12 years, added: "They've never been this bad. I can't tell you how long they've been here now.

They didn't really bother me that much until my car got written off.

"Now I'm really annoyed. I do pay road tax.

"I feel they won't repair them because it's off the main road."

In the evenings and the mornings, added Jenny, cars are parked on both sides of Deben Road because a lot of the residents don't have garages, resulting in vehicles having to be driven down the middle of the road and over the numerous holes.

A spokesperson for Suffolk Highways said: "They (the road repairs team) have reported back and they have said that the potholes are not at intervention level.

"The potholes are not likely to get any deeper because there is concrete under the surface and the concrete is in a reasonable condition so they should not get any bigger.

"We have added it to the programme for future works to be considered but there is no set date for when this will happen as they are set according to priority."

Priority is given to the category of the damaged roads, with A and B categories getting a higher priority, added the spokesperson, and where they pose a safety risk.

Some potholes have been repaired over the past few months in Chalkstone Way, off which Deben Road feeds, but not all holes have been filled in.

A couple of the holes on Deben Road have been repaired, but only those close to the junction with Chalkstone Way.